Should I take Photography Classes?

This is a question I see on all the major sites in the "question & answer" areas. Oh Yahoo questions there are always nurmerous posts about this topic. Well, here's my take on it...and even though I'm an instructor (roushphotoonline.com) I'll try to give an unbiased opinion.
Through the years I've taught students at many different skill levels, lots of amatuers and a fair amount of "wanna be pros". The thing that is common among all of them is the their lack of knowledge. It's not that they can't expose properly, it's not that they can't operate the camera. Knowing how to use all the components that are available and how to apply them to different shooting situations, different lighting environments, and effectively delivering a message in a visual format is where the "lack of knowledge" becomes evident. Most studentes look at a pro photographers photos and say "I want to do that!". Well, to DO "that" it takes a very complete understanding of lens choice, speed choice, Depth of Field choice, and then be able put this together in a properly and powerfully composed visual layout and design that impacts the viewer.
That's where most photographs fail. When I critique portfolios, and I critique hundreds, it's always the same ... the same reasons and problems in the execution.
So, yes, photography classes will enlighten you to things you might not know you need to do, or need to think about when doing photography.

Take Better Photographs

There is always a question from someone during a photo lesson about simply "taking better pictures". I talked yesterday about the shooting formula I use religiously to help maintain a higher standard of imagery. The formula is as follows:
Concept / Sketch / Plan / Execute
If you start to follow this simple structure as you develop ideas and stategies for your photography you'll find yourself taking better photographs in no time.
CONCEPT - develop your ideas before even getting your camera out of the bag. Think about what you are shooting, subject placement, composition, message, and all the other elements of artistic development.
SKETCH - Force yourself to draw your idea. This forces us to truly think about our image in a visual format and makes us think about the composition and all the possible variations.
PLAN - make a list of all the things you'll need with you produce your idea. Props, equipment, help, etc.
EXECUTE - If you done all the above three steps correctly you'll be able to shoot with ease. Part of taking great photographs is being able to think clearly and be focused on an idea when you shoot, not being pre-occupied with details.

Moral to the Story - to be a great photographic artist you need to be able to think like an artist as you shoot, not be thinking about solving problems that come with the shoot. When you find yourself having to stop shooting to go get something your forgot or to change your idea because you didn't think about a certain situation being a problem you pretty much going to fail photographically. Do your homework before, be ready, prepare yourself mentally, physically, and visually for your endeavor.

Jeff
http://www.roushphotoonline.com

Digital Photography Tips

Today we start our question and answer blog posts. I have a number of posts to put up so watch our blog over the next few days.

There are two basic types of photographs photographers capture.
One is simple coverage of an event or recording a scrapbook type series of photographs of somthing like a vacation. It's perfectly fine to do "snapshots" for things like this.

The second thing we might photograph is something for ourselves to keep, or print, hang up at home, or to put in a portfolio that is representative of our work. In this case a good "rule of thumb" to follow is my shooting formula. The formula is as follows:
Conceptualize / Sketch / Plan / Execute. I'll talk more of these in the next post, so for now develop your own understanding of what they mean.

We cover this concept thoroughly in the Online Classes.

http://www.roushphotoonline.com/

Jeff

ONLINE Courses now taking enrollment

Our online photography courses are finally ready for enrollment, in fact, a few have enrolled already and are doing awesome. I've added some new features and courses to the roster after getting a little feedback from a few students.
Also, for the rest of this month all classes are sale priced!! -- part of the grand opening of the new site.

If you have any interest please let me know fast. We can only handle so many students at one time and space is becoming limited as each day passes. I'll gladly hold a spot for anyone that shows enough interest.

Jeff

Roush Photo Online Enrollment is OPEN

Thanks to all of you that signed up early for our Online Digital Photography Course. Some of you have finished already and the feedback has been awesome. One women in Ohio is now a lot more confident when she shoots weddings, and another student in Florida has started a portrait business doing exclusively outdoor portraits. My last email from him had a couple of questions about composition and DOF but the images he has emailed me are awesome. Soon I'll have some of this student work posted on the website for all of you to view.

From now on we're going to post some of the questions we receive as students are taking the course and post the answers also, so watch the blog and keep up. You just might learn somthing!

If you have a question or comment please feel free to post it here! We're now watching the blog daily.